Designing the details of outstation ground services is both complex and vital to the passenger experience. Getting those details wrong can have an outsized impact on a traveller’s journey, so what are the most critical elements that need to be included at any good outstation?
Engaged, knowledgeable and customer-focussed staff are fundamental to a decent outstation operation, which by definition is an airport served by an carrier that is not a hub, focus city or crew base in the operator’s network.
While proper staffing is a challenge within current budgets, it’s one that can and must be met. Options here include ensuring closer liaison with ground services teams, potentially with the use of a strong station manager role. With the increasing size of airlines and airline groups (like the three European multicarrier organisations like IAG, Lufthansa and Air France-KLM, together with their low-cost operations) a shared station manager between, say, British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling can make a lot of sense.
Smart wayfinding and information provision is critical, and starts well before the passenger gets to the airport. It remains surprising how very rarely any airline provides useful, airport-specific navigation information (such as where their checkin desks are located within the terminal) at any point during the booking process, as part of the trip management path, or during online checkin.
Wayfinding pre-airport is particularly important — it gets passengers going where they need to. Image: John Walton
For example, low-cost airlines Volotea and easyJet have their own checkin area in the old terminal building at Lyon airport, on a different floor a fair distance away from the shared-use zone in the new terminal that’s connected to it. This building has its own separate ground transport drop-off area, which passengers might benefit from if they knew about it.
Similarly, checkin at Gran Canaria is spread over two floors, with larger players like Ryanair consistently using specific areas closer to certain dropoff areas. Airlines could markedly improve their ground experience by providing this information, textually or with a small map, during checkin, in an email, via an app notification or even in an SMS text.
Outstation airports come in all sizes, and the services delivered there need to be designed to fit. Image: John Walton
Setting expectations about the onboard experience is also a vital part of the outstation’s responsibility. As just one example, airlines (and/or subsidiaries) operating regional jets or turboprops with less overhead bin space than on their larger aircraft rarely make it clear that this will be the case, either at booking, in emails or at online checkin.
Smaller airplanes often have smaller bins that don’t fit the airline’s mainline cabin baggage dimensions. Image: John Walton
The classic case study here is Lufthansa’s CityLine Bombardier CRJs, which use a “door-check” operation where anything larger than a tote bag is put in a special bulk hold. Without information provided during booking, online or at the airport, this creates a passenger backup on the tarmac (in all weathers) as people discover only at the stairs to the airplane that they need to shift electronic devices and what they need for the flight from their rollaboard to their personal item.
Clear shared understandings of expectations and consistent service delivery across the airline’s network are crucial at all points, but especially where it comes to premium and ancillary buy-up services.
Lounges for business class passengers and frequent flyers are a great example here in their drastically different quality. Emirates is one of the very few airlines that sets visible standards for its outstation lounges. Many less impressive third-party facilities in its worldwide network are contracted to set apart a specific area for Emirates passengers — or improve their food and beverage options to the Emirates standard — during the period that its passengers are likely to be in the lounge.
Some outstation lounges — like here at tiny Teesside — can be a pleasant surprise if well designed and operated. Image: John Walton
Boarding according to the airline’s brand concept is also important, and can be done with a series of simple signs that require very little active participation by ground handling staff. The crux is to properly identify passengers with priority boarding — however they are eligible, through class of service, frequent flyer card, purchased option, and so on — and to ensure that the service the airline promises them is delivered.
Priority boarding, whether sold as class of service, as a loyal traveller perk or as an ancillary, needs to be delivered. Image: John Walton
And that’s the crux of the matter: airlines promise (and indeed sell) an experience, whether they are the most premium network carrier or most budget low-cost airline. Ensuring that the experience they deliver matches the one promised (and sold!) is a complex but vital endeavour.
Related Articles:
- Jet2 delivers relaxed low-cost flying experience in Europe
- Insights into the evolution of European leisure demand post-shutdown
- Aegean’s new business class: well above Eurobusiness average
- Meeting the needs of the premium leisure traveller: at the airport
- BA’s outstation lounge outlier: Geneva’s hidden gem
Featured image credited to John Walton
